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PHPUnit: Testing with a Bite
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TDD in Practice

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Let's put TDD into practice!

I want to add a new getSpecification() method to the Dinosaur class that will return a string description - like:

Velociraptor carnivorous dinosaur is 5 meters long

TDD says: write that test first! Add public function testReturnsFullSpecificationOfDinosaur(). Create a new dinosaur, but don't set any data on it. Let's test the default string: Unknown non-carnivorous dinosaur is 0 meters long should equal $dinosaur->getSpecification().

40 lines tests/AppBundle/Entity/DinosaurTest.php
... lines 1 - 7
class DinosaurTest extends TestCase
{
... lines 10 - 29
public function testReturnsFullSpecificationOfDinosaur()
{
$dinosaur = new Dinosaur();
$this->assertSame(
'The Unknown non-carnivorous dinosaur is 0 meters long',
$dinosaur->getSpecification()
);
}
}

Test done! Step 2 is to write the minimum amount of code to get this test to pass. In Dinosaur, add public function getSpecification(). So... what's the smallest amount of code we can write? We can just return a hardcoded string!

33 lines src/AppBundle/Entity/Dinosaur.php
... lines 1 - 10
class Dinosaur
{
... lines 13 - 27
public function getSpecification(): string
{
return 'The Unknown non-carnivorous dinosaur is 0 meters long';
}
}

Genius! Ok, try the test!

./vendor/bin/phpunit

Ha! It passes! The third step to TDD is refactor... which I don't think is needed in this case.

Wait, what? You don't like my hardcoded string? Looks like you're missing the last boat back to the mainland. Just kidding ... I know, returning a hardcoded string is silly... and I don't do this in real life. But it shows off an important thing with TDD: keep your code simple. Don't make it unnecessarily fancy or cover unnecessary use-cases. If you do have an edge-case that you want to cover, add the test first, and then code for it.

Adding another Case

Actually, let's do that now: add a new test method: testReturnsFullSpecificationForTyrannosaurus. I want each Dinosaur to have a genus - like Tyrannosaurus - and a flag that says whether or not it likes to eat people... I mean whether or not it's carnivorous. These will be used in getSpecification(). Create a new Dinosaur() and pass Tyrannosaurus, and true for carnivorous... because T-Rex's love to eat people.

Set its length to 12. This time, the specification should be:

Tyrannosaurus carnivorous dinosaur is 12 meters long

52 lines tests/AppBundle/Entity/DinosaurTest.php
... lines 1 - 7
class DinosaurTest extends TestCase
{
... lines 10 - 39
public function testReturnsFullSpecificationForTyrannosaurus()
{
$dinosaur = new Dinosaur('Tyrannosaurus', true);
$dinosaur->setLength(12);
$this->assertSame(
'The Tyrannosaurus carnivorous dinosaur is 12 meters long',
$dinosaur->getSpecification()
);
}
}

Finishing getSpecification()

Test done! Let's write some code! Start in Dinosaur: I'll add a __construct() method with a $genus = 'Unknown' argument and $isCarnivorous = false. Add these two properties to the class. I'll go to the Code menu and then to Generate - or press Command+N on a Mac - select "ORM Annotations" to add annotations above each method. We don't technically need those right now... but it'll save time later.

56 lines src/AppBundle/Entity/Dinosaur.php
... lines 1 - 10
class Dinosaur
{
... lines 13 - 17
/**
* @var string
* @ORM\Column(type="string")
*/
private $genus;
/**
* @var bool
* @ORM\Column(type="boolean")
*/
private $isCarnivorous;
public function __construct(string $genus = 'Unknown', bool $isCarnivorous = false)
{
... lines 32 - 33
}
... lines 35 - 54
}

Down in the constructor, set both properties to their values. The default values for each argument match our first test.

56 lines src/AppBundle/Entity/Dinosaur.php
... lines 1 - 10
class Dinosaur
{
... lines 13 - 29
public function __construct(string $genus = 'Unknown', bool $isCarnivorous = false)
{
$this->genus = $genus;
$this->isCarnivorous = $isCarnivorous;
}
... lines 35 - 54
}

In getSpecification(), we can't really fake things anymore. Return sprintf() and the original string, but replace the variable parts with %s, %s and %d.

Then pass $this->genus, $this->isCarnivorous to print carnivorous or non-carnivorous, and then $this->length.

56 lines src/AppBundle/Entity/Dinosaur.php
... lines 1 - 10
class Dinosaur
{
... lines 13 - 45
public function getSpecification(): string
{
return sprintf(
'The %s %s dinosaur is %d meters long',
$this->genus,
$this->isCarnivorous ? 'carnivorous' : 'non-carnivorous',
$this->length
);
}
}

Perfect! Find your terminal and run the tests!

./vendor/bin/phpunit

Passing! Now to step 3... refactor! And this time... I will! Let's include the word carnivorous in the string. Then below, just print non- if needed. I don't even need to think about whether or not I made any mistakes. Just run the tests!

56 lines src/AppBundle/Entity/Dinosaur.php
... lines 1 - 10
class Dinosaur
{
... lines 13 - 45
public function getSpecification(): string
{
return sprintf(
'The %s %scarnivorous dinosaur is %d meters long',
... line 50
$this->isCarnivorous ? '' : 'non-',
... lines 52 - 53
}
} 
./vendor/bin/phpunit

I love it! Testing gives you confidence!

Next! Let's create a DinosaurFactory - because that sounds awesome.

Leave a comment!

  • 2019-12-09 Victor Bocharsky

    Hey Sumeet,

    Looks like you forgot to pass a few required arguments to the Dinosaur entity when create it. Please, check your DinosaurTest.php on line 20.

    Cheers!

  • 2019-12-06 Sumeet Gupta

    I am getting this error:
    ArgumentCountError: Too few arguments to function App\Entity\Dinosaur::__construct(), 0 passed in /Users/sumeet.gupta/Desktop/Symfony/my_project_name/tests/Entity/DinosaurTest.php on line 20 and exactly 2 expected

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